If you have ever seen this movie you know what a powerful
storyline it is. The book is at time heart wrenching and
keeps you on the edge of your seat just waiting to see how
it will end. This story takes place in the
southern town of
Clanton, Mississippi. It begins with the brutal beating and
rape of a little black girl by two redneck
boys in their
early twenties. Once the beating was over they had planned
to lynch her but luckily a car came by and scared them so
they threw her in the back of their pick up truck and drove
around into they found a ditch to throw her in.
Of course, the two boys are caught and brought to
trial.
However, on the day of the trial, fearing that the boys
might get off or issued light sentences, Car Lee the little
girl’s father waited in the courthouse for the boys (Cobb
and Williard and he opened fire on them.
This murder trial is about to turn this very southern town
into a hotbed of racial
tension. Before it is over Jake
will have had crosses burned on his front yard,
threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, his secretary is threatened, and they
burn down his house.
By Chapter 26 Grisham introduces a fiery character in the
likes of Ellen Roark a
law student from Ole Miss who shows
up on Jake’s door one day and offers (actually demands) to
help him with the law case. In an interesting turn of
events the KKK try to take out Jake and instead hit a
guardsman. Then they kidnap the law student and tie her
naked to a pole. As all of this tension escalates the trial
continues, we find out the identities of these Klansman
whom are terrorizing Jake, and the verdict is read. Not
guilty by reason of insanity. And peace is returned to this
little southern town.
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